Pennsylvania State Rules That Crypto Exchanges, ATMs Are Not Money Transmitters

According to a document published on January 23, Pennsylvania (USA) has spelt out that crypto exchanges are not considered under the MTA (Money Transmitter Act) by DoBS (Department of Banking and Securities).

The document published very clearly notes that cryptocurrency exchanges do not need a licence to run their services in the state of Pennsylvania. Following this, MTA states that ‘no person shall engage in the business of transmitting money utilising a transmittal instrument for a fee or other consideration with or on behalf of an individual without first having obtained a license from the [DoBS].’

The DoBS highlights that movement of money under MTA unquestionably involves the movement of fiat currency which is a service for which the transmitter charges a fee. The document further mentions that digital currencies like (BTC) Bitcoin are not yet considered as money by MTA. Money is recognised as ‘currency or legal tender or any other product that is generally recognised as a medium of exchange.’

DoBS states that no jurisdiction in the United States has considered cryptocurrencies to be a legal tender till date. However, Pennsylvania continues to restrict the definition of money as a domestic or foreign authorised medium of exchange. The document further spells out that concerning crypto kiosks, vending machines and ATM’s, it does not matter if they allow one-way or two-way deposits along with the exchange of crypto and fiat, there is no transmission assumed to be involved since there is no middlemen fee involved.

As reported earlier, there was resubmission of a bill to the US Congress that aims to exclude companies providing custodial crypto services from a number of state money transmitting laws. Also, in the month of March last year, Wyoming state forestalled national level reforms by pushing its own bill to exclude specific blockchain-based tokens from limited securities and money transmission laws.

Moeen Khan is a Content Writer and Social Media Writer who actively writes about Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies at Coinpublish.
Moeen has previously worked with two start-up companies in New Delhi that were in the financial sector. He has interned with organizations like NDTV Goodtimes and Magicbricks (TOI Group). This experience has given him a broad knowledge base upon which he is working to build further through learning and practice.

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